Ancient-World Timeline

c. 9600–5500 BC

Neolithic: the first towns and temples

Where: Southeastern and central Anatolia (Şanlıurfa, Konya plain)

• Göbekli Tepe (c. 9500 BC): carved stone pillars in rings, the oldest known monumental site, more than 6,000 years older than Stonehenge.
• Çatalhöyük (c. 7400–6000 BC): one of the largest early farming towns; packed mud-brick houses entered through the roof, with wall paintings.
• Early farming of wheat and barley and herding of sheep and goats in the Fertile Crescent, which reaches into southeast Turkey.

c. 3000–1180 BC (Hittite empire c. 1650–1180 BC)

Bronze Age: Hittites and Troy

Where: Central Anatolia (Hittite capital Hattusa, near Çorum); Troy on the Dardanelles

• The Hittites ran one of the great powers of the age and wrote the oldest recorded Indo-European language, on clay tablets.
• Treaty of Kadesh with Egypt (c. 1259 BC): the oldest surviving written peace treaty; a copy hangs at the UN.
• Troy: a walled city controlling the Dardanelles; its fall around 1200 BC became Homer’s Iliad, composed c. 750 BC.
• Ended in the Late Bronze Age collapse (c. 1200 BC), when empires around the eastern Mediterranean fell.

c. 1200–546 BC

Anatolian kingdoms: Phrygians, Lydians, Lycians

Where: Phrygia (Gordion, central); Lydia (Sardis, inland from Izmir); Lycia (our walking coast)

• Lydia minted the world’s first coins (c. 630–600 BC, electrum); King Croesus (“rich as Croesus”) then struck the first pure gold and silver coins.
• Phrygia: King Midas (c. 700 BC), the real ruler behind the golden-touch legend; Gordion, home of the Gordian knot.
• Lycians kept their own language and alphabet and carved house-shaped rock tombs and tall sarcophagi into the cliffs.
• Later, the Lycian League (from c. 168 BC) was a federation with votes weighted by city size, praised by Montesquieu and cited in the Federalist Papers.

On our trip: Lycian Way walk · Myra rock tombs · Kekova / Simena sarcophagi

c. 800–323 BC

Archaic and Classical Greek (“Hellenic”)

Where: Greece and the Aegean coast of Turkey (Ionia: Miletus, Ephesus, Smyrna; Halicarnassus = Bodrum)

• Ionia was the birthplace of Greek philosophy and science: Thales of Miletus (c. 585 BC) and Heraclitus of Ephesus (“you cannot step into the same river twice”).
• Two of the Seven Wonders were on this coast: the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (c. 350 BC), which gave us the word “mausoleum”.
• Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c. 484–425 BC), the “father of history”.
• In Greece: Athenian democracy (from 508 BC), the Parthenon (447–432 BC), Greek drama, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.

On our trip: Phaselis (founded by Rhodes c. 690 BC) · Ephesus and the Temple of Artemis

546–334 BC

Persian (Achaemenid) rule

Where: All of Anatolia, run by Persian governors (satraps) from Sardis and other capitals

• Cyrus the Great defeated Croesus in 546 BC and took Lydia, Ionia and Lycia into the largest empire yet seen.
• The Royal Road ran about 2,500 km from Sardis to Susa in Iran, with relay stations for fast royal messengers.
• The Ionian Revolt (499 BC) set off the Persian Wars with Greece: Marathon (490 BC), Thermopylae and Salamis (480 BC).

On our trip: Many Lycian rock tombs, e.g. at Myra (4th century BC)

334–31 BC

Hellenistic: Alexander and his successors

Where: From Greece and Turkey to Egypt and Afghanistan; Pergamon (Bergama) the great Anatolian capital

• Alexander crossed into Anatolia in 334 BC, marched along this coast (stopping at Phaselis), cut the Gordian knot (333 BC), and beat Persia; he died in 323 BC.
• His generals split the empire: Ptolemies (Egypt), Seleucids (Syria and the east), and the Attalids of Pergamon.
• Pergamon: a library second only to Alexandria; “parchment” is named after it; the Great Altar is now in Berlin.
• Greek (koine) became the shared language of the eastern Mediterranean, later the language of the New Testament.

On our trip: Ephesus moved to its present site c. 290 BC · Hierapolis founded c. 2nd century BC · Phaselis

133 BC – AD 330

Roman

Where: Whole Mediterranean; Ephesus was capital of the province of Asia

• The last king of Pergamon left his kingdom to Rome in 133 BC; Lycia became a province in AD 43.
• Ephesus became one of the empire’s largest cities: the Library of Celsus (c. AD 117) and a theatre for about 25,000.
• Roads, aqueducts and spa towns such as Hierapolis above the Pamukkale terraces.
• Early Christianity spread here: Paul lived in Ephesus (AD 50s), and Saint Nicholas, the original Santa Claus, was bishop of Myra (4th century).

On our trip: Ephesus · Hierapolis and Pamukkale · Myra theatre and St Nicholas church · Kekova sunken city

AD 330–1453

Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire)

Where: Constantinople (Istanbul) and Anatolia, Greece and the Balkans

• Constantine founded Constantinople in 330 as the new Roman capital; it lasted over 1,000 years.
• Justinian built Hagia Sophia (537), the largest dome in the world for centuries, and the Basilica Cistern (532), and codified Roman law.
• Church councils that shaped Christianity met at Nicaea (325, today’s İznik) and Ephesus (431).
• Cappadocia’s rock-cut churches and monasteries with painted frescoes, many from the 10th–11th centuries.

On our trip: Hagia Sophia · Basilica Cistern · Cappadocia · Church of St Nicholas, Myra

1071 – c. 1300

Seljuk Turks

Where: Central and eastern Anatolia; capital Konya (Sultanate of Rum)

• Victory over the Byzantines at Manzikert (1071) opened Anatolia to Turkish settlement.
• A chain of caravanserais (fortified inns) roughly a day’s camel ride apart, like Sultanhanı (1229) on the Konya–Aksaray road.
• Rumi (Mevlana), the Sufi poet, lived in Konya (d. 1273); his followers are the whirling dervishes.
• After Mongol defeat (1243) the land split into small emirates; one built the İsa Bey Mosque in Selçuk (1375).

On our trip: Cappadocia region caravanserais (e.g. Saruhan near Avanos) · Selçuk town (İsa Bey Mosque)

c. 1299–1922

Ottoman (endpoint)

Where: From Anatolia to the Balkans, Middle East and North Africa; capital Istanbul from 1453

• Mehmed II took Constantinople in 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire.
• Süleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566) and his architect Sinan, who built the Süleymaniye Mosque (1557).
• Topkapı Palace (begun 1459) and the Blue Mosque (1609–1616).
• The Republic of Turkey replaced the empire in 1923; the Greek–Turkish population exchange that year emptied Kayaköy.

On our trip: Topkapı · Blue Mosque · Kayaköy